Tell Me This
by Elin B
Summary: "But why him?" Two late-night conversations about Zoro and Usopp's relationship, because crew members can be quite nosy. Zoro/Usopp.
1. Part One: Talking To Nami

Author's Notes: This was originally posted years ago on the old One Piece anonmeme op-fanforall on Livejournal. Someone asked for fic that could "explain" the appeal of Zoro/Usopp as a pairing, and what would make it work as a relationship. I didn't quite know how to do that and felt rather presumptuous in trying but tried my best anyway by doing a wholly conversational fic. Afterwards I let it linger for a long time, unsure of whether it warranted re-posting.

But now that I remember it and I've finished polishing it up/revising it, I'm ready to repost the old thing in the open. The first part with Nami and Usopp is pretty much the same as before: the second with Zoro and Brook has been a bit more revised but in essence it's still very close to the original, I think.

Setting is after Thriller Bark and pre-Sabaody. Could have been post-timeskip, even, except that Brook refers to himself as a rookie in the crew, and therefore it's pre-timeskip (which means Brook has his violin instead of his guitar).

Disclaimer: The characters and situations of One Piece are owned by their creator Eiichiro Oda, who seriously needs to get a more human work schedule. They are used here without permission for entertainment purposes only. This work is not to be used for profit in any circumstances and should not be reposted anywhere without the author's approval.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Tell Me This

A One Piece fanfic by Elin B

Part 1: Talking To Nami

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

It feels like late in the night, though he's not quite sure of it. But it has been a long, eventful day at least, one that ended with a big party out on the deck, celebrating a victory. And since Usopp can't see anyone else right now that's conscious except him and Nami, sitting out on the lawn deck in the warm summer night, it's probably pretty late. Nami is alternating between chugging down gin and sipping from a dainty cocktail mix that looked deceitfully dangerous, while Usopp switched to plain soda water awhile ago but still feels pretty light-headed.

Somehow the subject of Lolonoa Zoro has entered the conversation. Maybe it was Nami that brought him up, or maybe Usopp did since he does feel just a bit too drunk to be properly embarrassed. He knows he hadn't planned to delve into their relationship, though; but it seems like Nami had.

"I know that guy pretty well, I'd say," she starts by saying. "I've known him for a real long time now, or at least it feels that way–"

"Longer than me– " he interjects, just in case she wants to point that out.

"Yeah – longer than you – but he still surprises me, even so. After all this time."

"Well, yeah. Me too," he agrees, looking over at her and wondering where this is going. Could… could Nami actually be jealous? She doesn't really look it. There's that warm light in her eyes like the shine of the sun on the waves early on a summer morning, and her smile is easy and relaxed. But she does look a little puzzled too.

She goes on, "And I didn't really see it – you two, you and him – it surprised me." She's lowered her voice now, and is moving the umbrella in her lethal-looking drink around in circles. "I hadn't expected that."

His cheeks grow warm, but not as much as they could have. It's late at night and nobody else can hear them. And some things are easier to talk about with Nami than with anyone else. At least, in some ways.

But he still takes a deep drink before answering, to give himself some time; and now Nami has already started to talk again.

"I mean...all right, don't take this the wrong way and maybe this will sound mean, but… I'm not all that sure what you might see in him. I'm awfully fond of him and I can't imagine him not being around, and I owe him a hell of a lot, but… as a boyfriend?" Her voice has sunk again, and as he glances at her he sees to his amazement that it's her face that's pink now, and she keeps spinning the paper umbrella around. Huh. Usopp wouldn't have imagined her talking so seriously about this, not teasing at all.

"Well," he mumbles, "it just… it just seems to work, y'know? I guess I wouldn't really have thought it would either, months ago," he admits. "I didn't think he was interested in that kinda thing. That he just wanted to focus on training and nothing else. Or even if he was, I'd've thought he woulda, well, be more likely to go for someone stronger."

"You're pretty strong," she mumbles.

"Strong-_er_," he specifies, though pleased with this uncharacteristic praise. Maybe Nami is a little drunk after all. "But I guess… I can't really compete with him, you know, the way Sanji can, I can't keep him on his toes like that. And I certainly can't decide things for him like Luffy. And I'm not as good at yelling at him when he's being an idiot as you are, although I can't say I don't try… and so on… but, I don't know... Maybe, I think maybe I can get him to relax now and then. A bit at least. To have fun and think of other things than training for a moment."

"And to _do_ other things as well," says Nami slyly. Well, there's that teasing tone he'd expected, but it still makes him flush.

"I… I guess," he mutters, then coughs. "Anyway, I figure, well, maybe that's _my_ job, when it comes to Zoro."

"All right, but… I wasn't asking what he might see in you," she points out. "But the other way around."

"Well, he's so strong, y'know?" Usopp finds himself gesturing, reaching for the right words to explain. He realises he's actually kinda glad that Nami has asked, that he gets the chance to expound on this out loud to someone. "Not just in muscles and techniques and all, but his will power, too. So determined. But… well, it's like he can let me be stronger, too. Or he trusts me to grow stronger, and then I really feel like I can." He's being rather vague and general about things, but he doesn't really want to get into concrete examples here: he's blushing enough already. It's only in _some_ ways that Nami's easy to talk to. He buries his face in his tankard of soda. "Like… like I can feel how he respects me, y'know?" he adds. "It's like I get… more room that way."

-x-x-x-

Nami looks at Usopp again. What he says seems to make sense, even though he's not being terribly specific. But there is an 'and yet' in her head she can't quite get past.

_But he was prepared to leave you behind_, she doesn't say. _He even threatened to quit himself rather than let Luffy go ask you to come back_.

She won't say that, of course. She can't ever say it.

Besides, for all she knows Zoro may have come clear about this to Usopp already, and they might have gotten past it on their own. But even if that's the case, Nami will not be the one to go around poking in old wounds. And no matter how much she drinks, Nami vows silently, she will never be drunk enough to forget that.

-x-x-x-x-

Usopp blows bubbles into his glass, wondering if he made any sense at all to Nami. Maybe all those things he said didn't really add up enough as an explanation.

"Yeah, okay," says Nami now, her tone hesitant. "But…" She's looking at him in an oddly melancholy way, a more restrained curiosity in her face now. As if there's something more she'd like to ask about but can't bring herself to. He could just ignore that, but maybe he doesn't want to, not right here on the deck under the stars while he's comfortably tipsy.

So he adds, "And besides, even when he's being a complete blockhead or an insane maniac he can still be pretty sexy." That earns him a surprised smile, at least. Hey, maybe he'll get the hang of this kind of talk yet.

More seriously, he goes on to tell her, "He likes Luffy more than he likes me." Nami's eyebrows shoot up: she obviously hasn't expected him to say something like this, not so frankly. …She looks kinda concerned, too. "Sure, of course I know that," Usopp goes on, grinning at her in what he hopes is a reassuring fashion. "Not _that_ way," he adds just to be clear. Nami just nods at that, waving at him to go on, so he does.

"Anyway, that's okay. It's Luffy. Besides, it's pretty much the same for me, so…" He shrugs and pours himself some gin, face only slightly red. His fingers are shaking a little, but maybe it's just because he's getting sleepy.

"Huh," says Nami, leaning back in her chair and for some reason looking rather relieved. "Well, normally I'd say that sounds pretty weird, except… well, we're a pretty weird crew, aren't we? So I guess in that way it fits."

He shrugs again. Then he grins really widely at her, "Of course, if you go ask Zoro why we're together, he'll probably say it's all due to my legendary powers of seduction! Why, I'm fabled all over East Blue and half the Grand Line as the Great Heartbreaker that no-one can resist, try as they might!"

That earns him a groan, a laugh and a smack on the arm. "Gah, I was just _waiting_ to hear something like that," she grumbles. Then she snorts and starts giggling. "But I must say it would be quite glorious if anyone could get Zoro to say just that." She takes another deep swig from her tankard of gin. "Yeah. Okay."

He tilts his head towards her, now even sleepier. "Yeah, okay what?"

"Just, you know. Yeah. Okay."

"Okay."

"Yeah."

"I'm going to fall asleep now," he announces, putting his head down on his arms on the table.

"Be my guest," she mumbles, and he doesn't close his eyes after all, not yet, but watches her looking out towards the night, towards the dark waves. He feels there's something in his mind that he should say, that he should take this opportunity while he can, but now he can't think of what it might be.

"Sometimes I'm scared he might run into something that's just too much for him," she says, softly but suddenly. "He gets stronger all the time, but... he always tries so hard, and he doesn't really know how to bend, like you and I do, does he? I'm scared he'll break instead."

"Well..." he says slowly, "we'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen, won't we?"

She looks at him, smiles, and nods. And that's about all he remembers before he slips into dreams.


	2. Part Two: Talking To Brook

Part Two: Talking to Brook

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Zoro still doesn't really know if skeletons can get drunk, because Brook seems to act much the same whether he's poured a lot of wine and booze into him or not – that is to say, he acts with the same mix of weird courteous elegance and an apparent total lack of restraint and embarrassment. And yet, late one night (no-one else nearby, the moon low on the horizon and a single lantern still burning at their table), the musician turns to Zoro and begins to talk in a strangely hesitant fashion. So maybe Brook does have a sense of tact and decorum buried somewhere in his marrow after all, since it takes Zoro a moment or two to fully register what he's getting at.

Brook starts off by going on about how he maybe shouldn't be saying things like this, that it might be indelicate, but as what you might call a rookie in this crew he feels it behooves him to try to inform himself about the state of certain relationships, so he won't draw the wrong conclusion and put people in awkward situations thereby.

He assures his fellow swordsman that he would truly hate to upset his crewmates without meaning to, then goes on to add, "…But I have already asked the ladies about this and they say, yes, you and Mr. Usopp are most definitely going out, no question about it. So there you are," Brook finishes and then takes a deep drink from a wine bottle.

"Uh-huh," confirms Zoro, leaning back against the railing with a newly-filled tankard in his hand. "What about it?" he adds, because Brook, sitting cross-legged and very upright beside him, is drumming his fingers against the deck and looks like he's not quite through after all.

"Well… I don't really understand it," says Brook, in the manner of making a confession.

Zoro shrugs. "Eh. Don't worry about it."

"Pray, don't misunderstand me," Brook continues anyway, "Mr. Usopp is a very nice fellow indeed and an excellent crewmate. But I'm not quite sure he's the kind of person I would most easily see with someone like you."

"Who does?" asks Zoro, frowning but honestly curious.

"Hm…" Brook tilts his skull thoughtfully. "I don't know, come to think of it." Steepling his long bony fingers together, he wriggles them a little before he goes on, "I'm trying to think of some people in my old crew you remind me of, but now I can't recall them being involved with anyone at all. Of course, none of them were exactly like you, Mr. Zoro... Oh! That's right." He knocked his skull, making a hollow sound. "There was Trombone Theo, big strong guy who didn't speak much. He was in love with a wandering troubadour lady from his home island. She sounded like a very interesting person."

"Huh. Okay," says Zoro, drinking from his tankard. "Well, it's not... that's not the same thing." He scratches his head. "Since we're both crew, it's not the same as other types of couples. It's not like..."

Actually, Zoro doesn't know enough about romance to say what it isn't like. He's heard some of the clichés, sure, how people say it's supposed to be. But how many people are really anything like that?

"I ithink/i it's different," he allows. "You know... it's just more of what's already true for all of us. Like how we're all different, and we're all needed. Usopp's just... well... he makes things _easier_, somehow. I don't know how he does it, but it's true." Not like Luffy does, not the big fundamental things... But smaller things that's part of getting through the day, and finding new ways to grow in. Zoro can't quite put all that in words, he's talking way too much already.

Brook belches loudly. "Hum. I see. ...Very comradely."

Zoro's drinking deeply again, then stares for a moment into the night air, before he snaps to life again. "Sure, yeah. He can do some things nobody else can. That's all." It's not all, he knows it, but it's all he can grab a hold of at the moment. Is this going to niggle at him now...?

Then he realises Brook's mouth is hanging wide open and glares at him. "Don't take that the dirty way, either! Just because _you're_ a pervert doesn't mean that was what I was thinking of!"

Brook closes the mouth he let hang open with a sharp click and assures Zoro that of course he wasn't thinking that sort of thing _at all_, not in the least, oh no no no; as if the opposite wasn't written all over his face bones.

The stars wander above them while the anchored Thousand Sunny dips on the quiet waves. Brook munches up the last of the evening snacks for the party. Zoro fills up another tankard of booze. Minutes pass, while Brook hums under his breath and taps his fingers on the table. And then Zoro, unusually, find himself returning to the subject on his own. Maybe because it's late at night and the booze is good and the moon is full; maybe because it's Brook who asked. Sure, Brook can be noisy and tactless, but Zoro feels utterly sure he won't blab to the others. In quiet moments like this one, the two of them have a pleasant kind of mutual and silent understanding.

"It's kinda amazing how much he's grown," he says slowly, stretching out and leaning back in his chair. "We all have, but… well, I didn't _use_ to think of him in that way, back when we started out. But somewhere along the way I started to, mmm, notice how much stronger he's become. He still gets scared easily, I think that's why it's easy to miss how hard he tries… he keeps getting knocked down and struggling back onto his feet. Always had to respect that, from way back when we first met."

"A commendable quality," comments Brook, who's started to fine-tune his violin. He moves the lantern closer to him to see the strings better.

"Yep. But, see… well, once he got past a certain level of toughness I guess I started to find that pretty sexy, too. That whole way he fights so hard when he's serious." Zoro shrugs again. The booze has run out. "And then I found some pictures of me he'd drawn that showed he wasn't all that uninterested either, so… turned out it wasn't that hard to do something about it."

Well, maybe skeletons can't get drunk but they _can_ blush, apparently. Zoro blinks, on the one hand suspecting the booze has made his tongue a little looser, but on the other weirdly proud of himself for managing to make Brook embarrassed.

"Puh- please! Do not feel that you need to hand me any more details about this, Mr. Zoro!" Brook bursts out, waving urgently with both hands. "I can manage perfectly fine without such lurid pictures in my head, thank you!"

Zoro raises an eyebrow. 'Lurid'? Feh. "Are you sure? 'Cause I wouldn't mind telling you more about it, since you asked and all."

"Absolutely sure! And I know I did, but now I'll stop asking!" Brook keeps waving urgently, then grabs his violin and raises it high with a flourish. Already the blush seems gone and forgotten.

"Now," he announces, "I shall play an air to finish off this lovely night!" He points at the lightening sky in the east. "An air for romance, of course - but also for friendship!"

"Uh, you don't really have to do that…" It's Zoro's turn to start feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Nonsense, it's no trouble! Also," Brook adds thoughtfully, "perhaps tomorrow I could ask Mr. Usopp if I could pay him to draw me some sexy pictures of Miss Nami and Miss Robin!"

Zoro sputters at that. "You what now?" Brook laughs, mock-dodging, then starts to play a few opening chords. It's not a tune that Zoro has heard before.

"Yohohoho, that was only a joke! Do not worry! Now that I know how things are, I will make sure to be tactful!"

"Yeah, like that's likely to happen," grumbles Zoro. But he leans back and looks up at the stars, the sky looking slightly lighter by now. He puts his tankard down beside him on the deck and yawns.

Sleep tugs at him from one direction, but dawn's approach tugs in another: it would be a shame to miss out on that early clear light and fresh air that's so good for training. Plus, there was always that special satisfaction at pushing a tired body a little further. He can nap later, after breakfast: besides, he always sleeps better in the chaos of the deck during the day.

The song takes on a wistful tone, a gentle loneliness like that of a wanderer used to being alone and not expecting otherwise. Is that romantic? Zoro doesn't know. It's nice to listen to, anyway.

Stars are fading, now, the sky a waiting grey. He leans over and blows out the lantern.

Brook yawns as well and then shakes his head as if to ward off the sleepiness. The melody changes once more to something happier and more triumphant, though still played softly.

Luffy might well be able to steal more of his food if Zoro turns up all sleepy to breakfast; Usopp will probably try to draw stuff all over his face when he's napping, later. But in the end, maybe that wasn't so bad.


End file.
